Regarding the post on hubs, I pretty much agree with Dannreuther.

It's a bit of a chicken and egg question as to whether the Mint began with a hub or a master die in 1793. So few 1793 cent and half cent dies were created that it may not have been worthwhile to create a master die and then try to make hubs from that. The engraver may just have created a hub like a cameo; we can't be sure. The quality of the die steel was poor, and there was a substantial risk of breaking everything the more times you tried to punch something into steel. However, Robert Scot wrote in 1795 that his procedure was to engrave a master die and make hubs from that. So, there is no question that both hubs and master dies were in use WAY before 1836.

With respect to the overlays in the original post, my experience is that overlays of photos that were not taken at the same time with the same lighting can be hard to align, but that isn't evidence the dies were not created from hubs/master dies.

The Mint did experiment with complete hubs including the wreath, lettering and dentilation for the 1794 half cent reverses. They weren’t very successful. The next complete hub for a half cent was made in 1840.

In response to Dick Hanscom’s question, I imagine “R. & Co. S.F.” is Reininger & Co. This company was located at 420 Market Street in San Francisco. Products, according to a 21mm brass advertising token they issued, included Stencils, Checks, Rubber Stamps, Badges, and Box Brands. It is listed by Kappen as #2201.

As a result of your including the article about this year's winner of the American Medal of the Year, Susan Taylor sold four medals to your readers. She was delighted!

I want to thank those who responded to my request for information last week. I was able to contact Leonora Dickson and we had a good phone conversation. We also were contacted by Paul Johnson who was named Outstanding Young Numismatist in 1972. He provided information on Canadian Young Numismatist Terri Roach.

This week my attention turns to male young numismatists. The general problem is that web searches may turn up references to names but I have not been able to confirm those were the winners of the award. Do you know what happened to any of these winners?

Jeffrey Coopersmith was from Washington D.C and was named Outstanding Young Numismatist in 1973. That year he testified before Congress in support of the"Hobby Protection Act."

Larry Gentile, Jr. [1981] was the son of Larry Gentile Sr. and from New Rochelle, New York.

John M. Greenslet [1983] was the son of Phil Greenslet from Reistertown, MD.

David Massey [1986] was from Chamblee, GA.

Matthew R. Zuckerman [1990] was from San Francisco.

If you know an email address or where they can be found as a adult, contact Wayne who will forward the lead back to me.

As interesting and fascinating as it may look, I am afraid I have to tell you that the Mexican Minas del Eden token you linked to in the "Numismatic Nuggets" section is one of the many forgeries - or more precisely, fantasy issues - that were and most likely still are produced in Mexico. Normally they are sold, at rather modest prices, as curiosities in local street markets to tourists and other unsuspecting clients.

But eventually some of them end up in the numismatic market, usually on the internet (where it may or may not be possible to convince the seller of his error - mostly not, since potential buyers cannot be warned or informed). The fact that some of these creations even made it into the catalogs that are used as standard references does not help either...

Similar crudely made real tokens exist, which is why these are so easy to make (and make up).

With regard to the inquiry from E-Sylum reader Jacob Lipson of Montreal on the George III Golden Jubilee Medal BHM-642 (E-Sylum v20n16 April 16, 2017), I have the same medal, also in silver. I have had it for many years, and I kept it because it had such a nice portrait of George III.

I would be interested in learning any more about it that Jacob Lipson might learn from the Ashmolean Museum.

Photos of my medal are attached.

"What did Columbus look like? No one knows. No portrait painted during the Admiral’s lifetime appears to have survived, but scores of later artists rendered their Columbuses."

"(The medal) was made shortly before Columbus’s death. Then the discoverer’s voyaging was done, and he was vainly attempting to have his promised emoluments restored. The medal shows a man bent with age, face wrinkled from the rigors of life at sea."

My daughter sent this picture she took of a casket in the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, TX. Who knew such a place existed? I'll have to add it to my bucket list (the "kick the bucket" list).